There’s this notion that due to the economic crisis we’ve suddenly changed as a nation and that we’re going to be more wholesome as a result.

One of the biggest lessons yesterday’s three-ring circus of collapsing Cabinet picks is supposed to be that we will not stand for brazen assumptions of self-worth or self-importance.

What most doomed Tom Daschle wasn’t that he didn’t pay all his taxes; it was that he didn’t pay taxes on a limousine and driver because he just assumed he deserved the perk – and that he assumed he deserved the perk because he was making millions doing little more than cashing in on the entrée his former-senator status gave him to power brokers.

We don’t like that anymore, as in: REALLY DON’T LIKE IT, don’t like it. Thus the zeal in which Obama’s supporters – and probably plenty of his critics – gloat over the salary caps going to the executives of banks and firms we’re bailing out.

I concede that my industry often thinks it is on to a new trend only to find that it’s not. But I’ve come across this argument from enough different quarters now that I’m just as intrigued as I can be.

“For the American public, Daschle became the latest symbol of everything that is wrong with Washington — the influence-peddling and corner-cutting and sacrifice of the public good to private interest,” Perlstein writes. “Now that this system has let them down, and left them poorer and anxious about the future, people are angry about it and no longer willing to accept the corruption of the public process and the whole notion of public service.

“The irony, of course, is that Barack Obama understood all this and tapped into Americans’ frustration as the central message of his ‘change’ campaign. But even he, with only four years in Washington, failed to see the depth of the problem or anticipate the ferocity of the backlash,” Perlstein writes.

Tongue in cheek, Brooks writes, “I’m afraid there are rich people all around the country who are about to suffer similar self-immolation because they don’t understand that the rules of privileged society have undergone a radical transformation.”

And who can’t help but laugh at Maureen Dowd’s skewering of Tom Thain and his wacko explanations for his million-dollar office makeover?

After quoting Thain’s halting blather: “It really would’ve been – very difficult – for – me to use it in the form it was in,” she quips:

“Did it have a desk and a phone?”

Meanwhile, at less exalted levels, reports that the middle-class is finally saving money again, paying down its debt and living more frugally suggests we’re becoming more down to earth and less enamored by extravagance.

Now, I have to admit I get nervous around overly wholesome people. But I’d get violently ill if I had to hang around a guy like Thain.

So I’ll skip the Martini tonight and drink a beer. Then I’ll toast this brighter side of the recession.

It’s heartening to see American support for this massive partisan spending plan dropping, despite the scare-mongering of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi.

Also, deeper in the summary we find this:

While support for the plan has slipped, support for a recovery plan that includes only tax cuts – like the one proposed by House Republicans – has grown during the past week. Forty-three percent (43%) of voters support that approach while 39% are opposed.

I think Republicans should be cautious about pushing tax cuts as an economic stimulant — or more rebate checks — but, clearly, small business and corporations could use tax cuts to alleviate some of the pressure they’re feeling.

As the news has mainly focused on Barack Obama’s less-than competent handling of the vetting process with his cabinet appointments, another issue has begun to come to light: lobbyists.

I have no moral problems with lobbying as a profession — though, certainly, these relationships can devolve into ethically dubious ones quite often. After all, the First Amendment of the Constitution protects the right of citizens to petition government. That’s the business lobbyists and “special interests” perform. But Obama made a lot of campaign noise about no longer conducting “business as usual” when it came to lobbyists and their influence in the White House.

Turns out, the president is having some trouble – or, more likely, ignoring — this promise. Below is a list of people Obama has named for top positions in the White House with lobbyists ties — via Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:

Eric Holder, attorney general nominee, was registered to lobby until 2004 on behalf of clients including Global Crossing, a bankrupt telecommunications firm.

Tom Vilsack, secretary of agriculture nominee, was registered to lobby as recently as last year on behalf of the National Education Association.

William Lynn, deputy defense secretary nominee, was registered to lobby as recently as last year for defense contractor Raytheon, where he was a top executive.

William Corr, deputy health and human services secretary nominee, was registered to lobby until last year for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a non-profit that pushes to limit tobacco use.

David Hayes, deputy interior secretary nominee, was registered to lobby until 2006 for clients, including the regional utility San Diego Gas & Electric.

Mark Patterson, chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, was registered to lobby as recently as last year for financial giant Goldman Sachs.

Ron Klain, chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, was registered to lobby until 2005 for clients, including the Coalition for Asbestos Resolution, U.S. Airways, Airborne Express and drug-maker ImClone.

Mona Sutphen, deputy White House chief of staff, was registered to lobby for clients, including Angliss International in 2003.

Melody Barnes, domestic policy council director, lobbied in 2003 and 2004 for liberal advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the American Constitution Society and the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Cecilia Munoz, White House director of intergovernmental affairs, was a lobbyist as recently as last year for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group.

Patrick Gaspard, White House political affairs director, was a lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union.

Michael Strautmanis, chief of staff to the president’s assistant for intergovernmental relations, lobbied for the American Association of Justice from 2001 until 2005.

This doesn’t count Tom Daschle, who never registered as a lobbyist but got paid millions for his political connections in pursuit of preferential treatment for his clients in the health-care industry.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.